Automatic safety plunger



July 23, 1940. s. l.. BELKNAP 2,209,067

AUTOMATIC SAFETY PLUNGER Filed Oct. l5, 1939 IN VEN TOR:

samuel L. eZZnqo;

A TTORNE Patented July 23, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT yOFFICE y AUTOMATIC* SAFETY PLUNGER Samuel L. Belknap, Los Angeles, Calif. Application october 13, 1939, serial No. 299,363

l 2 Claims.

This invention' relates to automatic safety plungers, arid has for an object the provision of a suitable device wherein `safe doors, or other instrumentalities, may be securely held closed to the door housing to prevent removal of said door incident to an external tampering with the door.

Particularly, this -invention contemplates an improvement upon my Automatic safety plunger 30 described and set forth in United States Letters Patent No. 1,919,647, granted July 25, 1933. Reference is also made to Letters Patent granted to me, No. 1,887,866, issued November 15, 1932, for Double door floor safes.

5 The present invention has applicability to safes of the type mentioned in the Letters Patent aforesaid and wherein the safe body is adapted to be surrounded by and encased in concrete or other substance within a floor. Safes of this character l0y are of great utility in stores, oices, and the like, when it is desired to deposit money therein which mustbe left Within the safe during the dayor over night. Such a safe, due `to its compactness and the factthat by being secured within the floor, does not take up useful space in an ofce,

and has caused its general adoption in the business lndustry. It has been found under actual service conditions thatthe type of safe herein depicted in part, when secured within the door, is

* not easy of removal and assures the utmost pro,-

tection against either professional safe blowers or an amateur safe blower.

Whereas in my Letters Patent No. 1,919,647, I

have provided an automatic safety plunger adapt- A ed to accomplish in part the locking object of the present invention, still it is possible, under certain conditions, to sodestroy the main lock on the safe door and perhaps bysuitable implement engage the automatic safety plunger to retract 4o the same so that the safe door may be rotated or otherwise moved so as to `remove the same from the safe body. The present invention is adapted to overcome the deficiency just mentioned, in that the device to` be described is arrangedI so that the plunger is not permitted to have retrograde movement after it has once been moved into locking engagement with thesafe body, and hence the door is incapable of being removed from said body, irrespective of rotation thereof or destruction of its main locking mechanism.

Other objects of the invention include an automatic safety plunger and its operating mechanism which is simple of construction, inexpensive in cost of manufacture, and capable of producing (Cl. l0-1.5)

With the above mentioned and other objects in view, the invention consists in the novel and useful provision, formation, construction, association, and relative arrangement of parts, members and features, all as shown in a certain embodim'ent in the accompanying drawing, described generally, and. more particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary top plan view of a lo safe provided'with a door, said door incorporating the automatic safety plunger.

Figure 2 is a, sectional view onthe line 2-2 of Figure 1,

Figure 3 is a sectional view on an enlarged 15 scale, taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 1, and,

Figure 4 is a fragmentary sectional view, the plunger being moved from a non-flange engaging position of the safe body to a ange engaging position of the same body. zo

Referring now with particularity to the drawing, in the figures, I have illustrated a safe body I 1 of a'type which is particularly adapted to be sealed `o1' encased within some medium, such as concrete 2. It is to be observed that the body has 25 a tapered outer surface 3, a base 4 having an external flange 5, whereby when the material 2 en-` Compasses the body, the flange is interlocked with said material 2 so as to prevent removal of the safe body therefrom. This safe body adjacent 30 its top 6 is provided with two spaced apart internal flanges 'I and 8. These flanges are both provided with seats 9 and I0, respectively, and external and internal safe doors II and I2 are adapted to be received upon the seats 9 and I9. 35 `'I'he safe doors are identical in construction, and one will be described.

Taking the door I l by way of example, the said door is substantially circular and provided with two portions of different diameter I3 and I4.. The portion I3 'is adapted to be received within the confines of the safebody, while the portion I4 isa flange. This ange rests upon the seat 9 when. the door is closed, see Figure 3. Furthermore, the end I5 of the body I is adapted' to be substantially flush with the top surface of the door when the door is closed. The `portion I3 of the door is recessed inwardly from the bottom wall, as shown at I6, to receive a key-operated lock (not shown). However, in Figure 1,"the key 50 opening I Se is illustrated. When 'ag proper key is inserted within the open-ing |69, the tumblers of the lock may be operated so as to retract a bolt I'I from beneath the flange l. This bolt II, acting in conjunction with a segmental lug I8 55 inner ends thereof that the pins .drop by gravity into positions inwardly of the bolts to prevent retrograde movement of the latter when the bolts are moved into positions beneath the anges.

SAMUEL L. BELKNAP. 

